Last year was a Proverbs 31 kinda year.

Ever honest, I am. So, here’s some truth from this stage of my life.

I detest (that sounds too harsh) do not care for small children. Yes, I do have three of them. And yes, I do love them, but I do not enjoy being with them all day. I informed my husband that a nanny would probably raise our children better than I was. I think he agreed.

Many times last year, I found myself in Proverbs 31. No, not the end. The beginning.

Let beer be for those who are perishing, wine for those who are in anguish! Let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.

Ever biblical, I am.

Bottoms up! Here’s to forgetting!

In all seriousness…I’ve only heard one sermon on this passage, and like 3 billion about super woman at the end. How come?

As far as your other topic – or is it another topic? – I’m sure many feel similarly about work, but – sometimes – there’s a job that needs to be done well – with ALL of our senses. Wait…that almost sounds like King Lemuel’s mother’s advise to her son…

I like this post!!! I like the first party of Proverbs 31 🙂 and I’m thinking that’s going to be my kind of year this year. And like you…I’m not really a fan of being with my kids ALL the time…I really really struggle with being a full-time stay at home mom, especially when I have aspirations of my own.

The Proverbs 31 woman certainly wasn’t spending all her time in child care. She was making garments to sell on the open market, buying and developing land, etc.

People tend to forget that in Bible times children were not raised by just their parents. There were usually grandmothers, aunts and sisters involved. Households were large, extended family affairs. The woman at the end of Proverbs had servants too. As for “working outside the home,” no one did that, neither fathers or mothers– unless by “outside the home” you mean in the fields or the barns!

The way the church today reads the end of Proverbs 31 is a very odd, anachronistic reading that puts women in bondage when it was supposed to celebrate all the things a “woman of valor” could accomplish.

I love spending time with small children, happily my wife has always been good with older ones 🙂 But no child should be brought up just by their parents, and no parent should spend all (or even most) of their time just with their children. Life is about leaning independance and learning dependance. Parenting is about teaching and learning both of those things. Parents need to recognise and accept their dependance on others in bringing up their children, just as they need to encourage independance in those children.

Our children are now adults but I remember parenting, like most parents we were too possessive and (though less often) too protective of our children, those are the two beseting weaknesses of most parents 😉 If there aren’t doting uncles, aunts and grandparents around enrol some honorary ones!

The African proverb (whether an urban myth or a real one) that it takes a village to bring up a child is trite and overworked because it is true!